Meat products such as ham, picnics, shoulders and briskets are usually subjected to a pickling stage after which they may be further processed by cooking, smoking, packing, slicing and the like. The process carried out during the pickling stage usually involves injecting a quantity of a liquid solution usually a brine solution into the meat sections, after which the meats sections are simply placed in a container or tank, and allowed to cure for many hours. In the past, this curing stage simply involved sufficient time to allow the injected brine to disperse into the meat sections. More recently however it has been the practice to subject the meat sections to a moderate agitation or stirring action, while they remain in the tank. This provides a massaging function which tends to speed up the dispersion of the brine in the meat. In addition, it is also found that it causes the development of a gelatinous mixture of liquid protein and some exuded brine, which then assists in combining the meat sections into the finished product during the later processing stages. One form of apparatus in which this process may advantageously be carried out with excellent results is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,038,426. It has, however, been found that when cured or pickled in this way, with the accompanying massaging or stirring action, small air bubbles may develop in some of the meat sections. When the meat sections are then combined into the finished product, typically a ham, for example, these small air pockets appear as voids in the product when it is being sliced, and have an unsightly appearance.
Clearly, it is desirable to as far as possible eliminate such air bubbles. One process by which this has been achieved in the past is to subject the meat sections to a high vacuum during the stirring operation. The equipment by which this has been carried out in the past has usually been a special vacuum chamber, and has involved the transferring of the meat sections from the curing container or tank to the vacuuming chamber. This involves considerable additional labour, and the vacuum chamber must be cleaned before each new batch of product is placed in it.
It would be advantageous if the vacuuming step could be carried out in the same container as that in which the initial curing or pickling stage is carried out.
As shown in the U.S. patent mentioned above, this container it typically a rectangular container, having an open top, and provided with a stirring device which can be lowered down into the container. The stirring device is coupled to a motor by means of which it may be slowly rotated. In the past, such stirring devices were simply mounted on a support bar or open framework so that the top of the container remained open. However, using the type of container shown in the earilier patents, this would not have been possible. In addition, there was no vacuuming attachment suitable for applying a vacuum to such a container.
It is therefore a general objective of the invention to provide a container for the processing of meat sections, such a container being suitable for the initial storage and pickling of such meat sections at atmospheric pressure, after which, by interchanging the stirring mechanism, and by providing a novel form of top closure, the meat sections can be further processed while being stirred under a high vacuum.